Right (Wo)man in the Wrong Place
by Trailblazer2500
Summary: Pyrrha died in an attempt to halt Cinder's plans…or did she? Nearly 30 years later, she reawakens in the same spot she died into a bleak, dark and desperate future where humanity is locked in a stalemate against Cinder. With no idea how she got back and nearly everyone she knew before dead, she joins with allies both new and old to take back the future she lost.
1. Awakening

**Half-Life 2 references aside, this is what happens when you spend too much time on /r/RWBY, there was this one post discussing the future of character relationships and the very last one involved Pyrrha being flung into the future where she meets Jaune's descendants and then things happen and then they bang.**

 **Unfortunately, I can't find that post anymore to give the proper sourcing.**

 **So to the person that wrote that post, if you are reading this, drop me a PM so I can properly thank you for making my muse itchy.**

* * *

 _I'm so sorry Jaune, sorry Ruby, I wish things weren't this way…_ Pyrrha thought as darkness overtook her.

All of a sudden she could feel herself falling, endlessly, it was as though everything below her had just given way and now she was falling through an endless blackness where she could not even see her hands in front of her face. All of the pain in her heel and chest seemingly vanished, replaced with an incredible feeling of lightness, as though she was flying and soaring through thin air.

 _Wha-? What's going on? Where am I?_ She tried to speak but nothing came out as she wildly flailed about in her fall.

 _ **Not your time yet**_ _…_ A voice echoed out.

 _What? Who said that?_

 _ **This isn't your destiny…**_

 _Not my destiny? What does that mean?_

 _ **There are still things that need to be done…**_

 _What things? I'm dead aren't I? What can I possibly do?_

 _ **Not now, not yet, same place…**_

 _Same place? Wait what're you doing?!_

 _ **But a different time…**_

 _What's going on?! What's happening to me?!_ Pyrrha could feel herself slowing down to a stop.

 _ **Different people…**_

Pyrrha could now other voices now, garbled and murmured noises, but voices nonetheless, and they seemed to be slowly growing louder and louder. It was almost as if a veil was being lifted from around her, and she could slowly feel some of her senses come back to her, she could now feel a gentle breeze on her skin even though her vision remained dark. She could also now feel small vibrations, little thuds like the footsteps of someone walking close by.

"Who is it?" A dull female voice sounded.

"I dunno, she seems familiar though, and goddamn she's hot!" An energetic male one responded.

"Aren't you the least bit concerned this might be a trick?" A sigh of resignation came.

 _ **Time to wake up Pyrrha Nikos…**_

 _Who're you? What's this all about? Where am I waking up?_

"Who cares? Those curves, those legs, that chest…"

"And then she jumps up and bites your face off."

 _ **Hey…**_

 _What? Who're you? Why are you doing this? Where am I?_

"Hey I think she's coming around! Can you hear me sleeping beauty?"

 _ **Don't you think it's about time you woke up?**_

Pyrrha struggled and fought to move her eyelids upwards, and when she finally did, she found herself looking straight into the eyes of one Jaune Arc. Or at least she figured it was Jaune Arc her boyfriend-for-all-of-ten-seconds before she unceremoniously shoved him into a rocket locker and went to do battle with the woman threatening to take everything from her and wipe out Vale and Beacon by extension. I mean the boy before her certainly looked a lot like him, maybe older except…

'Jaune' had silver eyes.

Since when did Jaune wear color contacts?

With a headache that felt like a hammer being smashed into her head as quickly as possible, she squeezed out her first few words.

"J-Jaune?" She tried as she made to sit up.

"You knew dad?" His eyes lit up and he leaned a little closer, "hey Dawn the pretty lady knows dad!" He called out to someone else before turning back to her, "what was he like? Was he some giant that crashed through Grimm like an avalanche? Did he really take part in the Battle of Beacon and the Fall of Vale? Was he an 'incorrigible' flirt like mum said?"

 _Dad? Mum? What does he even mean? Don't tell me…_ Pyrrha tried to straighten out her thoughts as she pushed herself into a sitting position.

"Oh for crying out loud give her some room Hope!" He was pulled back by a girl who looked his age. Pyrrha rubbed her eyes a little and stared…at Ruby? Or at least it _seemed_ like it could have been Ruby, Jaune's team-leader-in-arms and one of her closest friends at Beacon, she had barely glimpsed the young girl moments before on her hands and knees staring at her in horror as Cinder had killed her. Well there was just one teeny, tiny problem with that assessment.

'Ruby' had blonde hair.

Since when had Ruby dyed her hair?

"Ruby?" She tried a little nervously.

"Wait a minute, did she just say mum's name? Did you know mum and dad?" Not-Ruby/Dawn turned from Not-Jaune/Hope to look at Pyrrha with an expression of curiosity. Pyrrha looked at the both of them cautiously, but before she could say anything else…

"Guysguysguys! Heads up we've got company! I spy lots and lots _and lots of_ Grimm coming our way! I think that fire bitch or one of her friends just found us!" A loud voice echoed out, Pyrrha turned to look at where the voice had come from, her head still pounding.

She found herself looking at Nora. It _must have been_ Nora, the hammer maiden with her loud, cheerful and bubbly disposition with a game-winning smile that would never slip from her face no matter how hard things were or might have been or would have been, and also one of her team members back at Beacon and last Pyrrha checked, was still battling Grimm with her partner Lie Ren while Pyrrha ran off with Jaune. On the other hand…

'Nora' had a rather masculine voice.

Since when had she changed her voice like that?

Pyrrha gave it one last shot, "Nora?" She tried.

"Oh hey! The lady knows my mother too! Did you know my dad though? His name is Lie Ren?" He suddenly turned to look at the three of them.

 _Mother? Father? Wait a minute; don't tell me these people are all…!_

"You're the children of Ren and Jaune?" Pyrrha asked incredulously.

"Yup! That's us! You know our parents lady?" Hope asked.

 _Children? But that must mean…I'm in the future?!_ Pyrrha took a moment to look around her, she was back at the top of the tower…or what remained of it at least, the gears lying about were now rusty and falling apart, the ruins had clearly been worn down over a long period of time.

"You alright lady? Nothing broken?" Hope looked at her with an inquisitive expression.

"N-no…err…who are you?"

"My name is Hope Arc, the girl over there is my twin sis Dawn, and that guy is Ben." Hope gestured to the both of them.

"Hope you're not supposed to be telling every idiot who we are!" Dawn growled.

"I'm sure it's fine, I didn't catch your name though sleeping beauty."

 _Cheesy flirting already? He really is his father's son._ Pyrrha thought with a smile.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, is your father-" She was interrupted by an explosion.

"Woo! Take that you ugly bastards!" Ben hollered down over the edge.

"Explanations later, for now we need to get out of here, can you walk on your own?" Hope stood up and held his hand out, Pyrrha took it gratefully.

"Yes, where are we going?" Before Hope could answer, Dawn interrupted loudly.

"Hang on a minute Hope! We have no bloody idea who she is, for all we know she could be a spy!" She shouted.

"She knows mum and dad, that's good enough for me, besides I have the strangest feeling about her, it's a good feeling, like you know when you-"

"Argh! Alright enough talk, we need to get out of here! There's no way I'm sticking around for that." Dawn jerked her thumb over the edge of the tower, when Pyrrha and Hope went to look; they saw a large dark mass heading straight for them.

"Grimm." Pyrrha swallowed hard, so the war continued on even after all this time?

"Yeah, lots of em', come on lady." The trio walked over to the other side of the tower, it was now that Pyrrha could finally get a good look at them. Dawn appeared to be wearing a full suit of silvery armor with gold outlines sans helmet, on forearm was mounted a large buckler, on the other arm she carried a large spear that appeared to also be some kind of gun judging from the magazine near the midsection a white scarf around her neck with the symbol of a red rose on two yellow crescents completed the look.

Hope wore a much lighter looking outfit with an open khaki vest with pouches all over and dark blue leggings with military style boots, he carried a large rifle on one shoulder, a pistol in its holster on his belt, and what looked like an assault rifle on the other shoulder, a veritable walking armory.

Ben meanwhile had the simplest look, black jacket over a white shirt and a pair of blue jeans; on the other hand he carried a massive hammer that looked a little like Nora's Magnhild.

"You wouldn't perchance know what a landing strategy would be?" Hope cocked an eyebrow as he looked out over the edge.

Pyrrha smiled, "Of course, I was there after all." Hope raised a curious eyebrow.

" _Were_ you now? Huh…well then I guess there's no need to worry right?" He smiled and stepped right to the edge with the other two, Pyrrha followed.

"Don't worry about anything going wrong, just let me handle it!" Ben grinned and gave a thumbs up.

"Alright, if you say so." Pyrrha nodded.

"Then let's go!" Dawn smirked and calmly stepped over the edge, allowing herself to freefall down, everyone else rapidly followed suit.

 _Ok, so I'll just use the side of the tower and use polarity to slow myself down using it, this should be fine._ She could see Dawn jam her spear into the side of the tower to brake while Hope dived straight down, near the bottom he kicked off from the wall and fired several shots, converting his vertical force into a horizontal force and landed with ease. Pyrrha focused her semblance, gripping the side of the tower and bringing herself down before releasing it and falling the last few meters to the ground with a roll.

Ben was last, and to her surprise, he floated down as though he was a light feather before dropping and landing easily on his feet.

"Semblance?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Mass control, I can make things really really light, or really really heavy." He grinned.

"We all good?" Hope turned to each of them, everyone answered in the affirmative.

"Right ok, our ride is just over here," He gestured to a four-wheeled, four-seater vehicle with a machine gun mounted on railings on top. The group jumped into the vehicle, Ben taking the driver's seat with Hope in the passenger seat while Dawn manned the gun with Pyrrha in the backseat.

"Are there any weapons? I can fight too!" Pyrrha said, as Ben gunned the engine and started driving away with the dark mass behind them.

"Use my spear, just twist the front down and push it back, it's a rifle now, here's the ammo." Dawn tossed several magazines at Pyrrha who shouldered the rifle and checked its sights.

 _Looks good, it's no_ _Miló but it'll do._ Pyrrha smirked to herself; she was finally in her element.

The vehicle zipped through the forest on some long forgotten track, Pyrrha could see nevermores approaching from the rear while beowolves closed in from the sides.

"Here they come! Shoot them down!" Hope ordered, while Ben kept driving the other three opened up with their weapons, machine gun and rifle fire spat out furiously, scattering and killing beowolves, Pyrrha aimed high and knocked a nevermore out of the sky with a several well placed shot, onward the crew drove, and onward the Grimm came.

An ursa grabbed onto the side of the car, Pyrrha jammed the spear into it and pulled the trigger, blasting the Grimm apart.

A griffon tried to land right on top of the vehicle, Dawn blasted it to pieces at close range.

A rain of nevermore feathers saturated the area, everyone ducked down in the vehicle, their auras deflecting and protecting them.

"We're almost there guys; just hang on a little longer!" A sharp turn to the right later and they were now on a more familiar paved road.

Several griffons exploded as Pyrrha and Hope put out accurate rifle fire with every shot.

"We've got a problem in front of us guys!" A large King Taijitu lay right across the road, remarkable its mid-point was right in the middle of the road.

"Pyrrha suppress the right head, I've got the left head, Dawn, you know what to do." So saying both he and Pyrrha opened fire. Dawn's hands left the machine gun and she raised them in front of her, her eyes glowed and a large transperant white barrier formed in front of the vehicle.

"Here we go, everyone duck!" Ben shouted and hit a button on the side of the steering wheel, the vehicle lurched and roared as it got a tremendous boost to its power while everyone hunched over. The vehicle crashed into, and through the King Taijitu, Ben held the wheel steady even as the vehicle shook wildly.

"First roadkill of the day!" He cheered.

"Don't let up! We're not safe until we clear the tunnel!" Hope growled out, and so they continued firing at their pursuers, who relentlessly continued on no matter how many were shot out of the sky and blow apart on the ground. After what felt like ages, Ben finally announced the news everyone had been waiting for.

"I see the tunnel! We're almost-" He was interrupted when a piercing, screeching noise echoed out throughout the area, Dawn, Hope and Ben went white while Pyrrha just looked confused.

"What was that?" She asked nervously.

"Razorwings." Dawn hissed, as if they heard her, dark masses, swarms of miniature flying things erupted on both sides of the road, heading straight for the vehicle. Dawn acted quickly, releasing the machine gun again and lifting both hands, a transparent silvery bubble encased the vehicle which prevented the swarms from getting closer although they continued relentlessly throwing themselves at the barrier.

"Hurry Ben!" Dawn strained.

"Almost there! Just a little bit longer." The shield contracted under the weight of the assault, Pyrrha felt helpless to do anything as Dawn strained to hold back the swarm that was almost completely blocking their view forward.

"Ok we're nearly there…" Ben struggled to keep the vehicle on point as the swarm clouded around them. Suddenly the shield began expanding again pushing the swarm back further, Hope turned around to see what his sister was doing

"Dawn?! What're you doing?" He questioned as he watched his sister stand straight on the back of their vehicle.

"How can we leave without saying goodbye?" Dawn smirked, Hope's eyes went wide.

"Don't! You could kill yourself!" He shouted.

"I won't die, now shut up!" Dawn growled back.

Pyrrha watched in amazement as Dawn's raised both her hands in front of her, both hands began glowing brightly and the shield around them that seemed to shudder and vibrate; it became less and less transparent as a loud humming noise seemed to fill the air all around them. And then something incredible happened.

With a mighty roar that would have shaken an Ursa to its core, Dawn slammed both of her hands outwards to her sides, the shield expanded in a flash, turning into an expanding hemispherical explosion of power that utterly annihilated the pursuing swarms of flying razors in a brilliant white light that dazzled Pyrrha for a moment just as she shut her eyes in time to avoid being blinded.

When she did open her eyes a moment later, she was shocked to find the entire area cleansed of Grimm, there was not a single one in sight as they thundered into the tunnel and a different darkness engulfed them.

"Ok we cleared them." Hope noted with a sigh of relief.

"Well that was interesting." He responded, just as Dawn fell over backwards into the vehicle unconscious.

"Sis! Goddamnit!" Hope called out worriedly as he turned around; Pyrrha pulled the fallen girl into her arms and checked her over.

"She's fine, but she's really low on aura! She'll die of exhaustion at this rate." Pyrrha told him, his face contorted in anger.

"Yeah tell me something I don't know lady. We need to get back ASAP, Ben hop to it!" Hope gave a grim look, without answering Ben floored the accelerator harder, an equally grim look on her face. Pyrrha meanwhile, decided to try something, she put her hand over Dawn's chest and pressed her forehead against the unconscious girl, focusing her aura until it glowed around her and Dawn.

"What're you doing?" Hope noticed this and turned back to look at them.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." Pyrrha said, and gasped as she felt herself get drained away, she pulled back panting and with her head swimming wildly.

Hope was looking at her warily, "What'd you do?" He lifted an eyebrow.

"I…I transferred a portion of my aura to her, she should be fine now." Pyrrha answered as she clutched her head, "Wow, your sister sure has a large aura reserve." Hope smirked on hearing that.

"Yeah apparently we got it from dad." He nodded, just as he said that they were answered with a spluttering cough from Dawn.

"Oh shit, what…the hell…was that?" She pulled herself up straight and rubbed her forehead.

"Sis! You're alright!" Hope's eyes lit up.

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, what happened? I feel like I just ran a marathon or something." She waved him off and shifted back into her seat.

"Pyrrha here just saved your ass is what just happened." Ben answered.

"Oh…I see…thanks a lot." Dawn sighed and leaned back with a glance at Pyrrha.

"You're welcome." Pyrrha smiled as she turned to watch the front, "so…where are we going?" She asked.

"Oh yes, we have a pickup on the shore that's going to take us to our floating base." Hope nodded.

"Floating base?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you should totally see it! It's a whole island made of metal that can float and move on its own and it's totally cool and awesome!" Ben grinned from behind the wheel.

"I see, well then lead the way." She smiled.

Sometime later, they emerged out of the tunnel, Pyrrha saw they were now streaking down a coastal road with the beach on a gentle slope right beside them, in the distance, dark clouds could be seen gathering with lightning flashing brightly.

"Looks like there's a storm approaching." Dawn announced, "And it looks really really wild." She lowered her binoculars.

"Crap, that's gonna make extraction a bitch…" Hope growled and grit his teeth, Ben pulled the vehicle to a stop at the side and the four looked out over the beach

"Storm's rolling in." Dawn remarked dryly as several drops of rain fell down, and then all of a sudden a deluge swept in, drenching all four in the vehicle.

"Wind's picking up." Another dry remark as the wind began to howl, high waves were beginning to pick up on the sea.

"Where's our extract? It should be here by now!" Hope banged his hand on the dashboard in irritation, just as he said that a dark shape dropped out of the clouds in the distance. To Pyrrha's eyes it looked like the bullheads she always used to ride, well they had the same basic shape and form any way, although…

Since when did bullheads have four engines?

And when could they float on water?

And why were they so much bigger? Although she supposed that could be answered by the fact that it probably needed to carry the vehicle they were riding out as well.

"That's our pickup! Go go let's get outta here!" Hope pumped his fist and waved it around, the radio crackled to life, "Seafire to Alpha-zero-one, come in over."

"Alpha-zero-one to Seafire, bloody good timing, we're on our way just hold it for five over."

"Roger, Alpha-zero-one, and pick up the pace we're not going to be able to hold for long in this weather over."

"Alpha-zero-one acknowledges, floor it Ben!"

"Seas are looking really wavy! Everyone hold on!" Ben shouted as he spun the wheel and guided the vehicle straight onto the beach and aimed right for the water, he then floored the accelerator, and the vehicle roared onwards toward the choppy seas.

"What're you doing?" Pyrrha asked incredulously, "You're going into that water?!" She looked at the both of them.

"Oh yeah we forgot to tell you, this is an Amphibious Combat and Reconnaissance Vehicle or ACORN, it goes on water." He turned back and looked at her, "sounds neat doesn't it? There is a catch though." He returned to watching the front.

"What catch?"

"It wasn't really designed for water as rough as we are looking at now." Dawn answered for him.

"That's a-ok though, I'm the best goddamn driver in the whole of Remnant!" Ben cheered as the vehicle hit the water and kept going, skimming across the surface lightly. Or at least it would have skimmed across the surface lightly if it were not for the meter-tall waves being kicked up by the storm, the wind gusting about them or the rain that was pounding into their eyes.

It made for a considerably unpleasant experience.

Pyrrha held one hand over her eyes in an attempt to shield them from the water being splashed all around them and the rain getting in her eyes; somehow all three of her companions had don-ed goggles to protect their own eyes. Meanwhile, she was being endlessly tossed from side to side and at one point, knocked her head on the seat in front of her, this combined with the continuous rocking and the lack of proper vision made it for her the roughest ride she had ever gotten, and she was an ace fighter used to flipping and moving wildly around an arena.

She wondered briefly if Jaune had had a point about motion-sickness.

When things calmed down momentarily and she was finally able to grab onto something to stabilize herself, she spared a glance at Dawn, who was looking at her with what was clearly a bemused expression on her face even though it was hidden beneath the scarf and goggles. Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow as Dawn raised the arm next to her.

Causing Pyrrha to realize that she grabbed onto Dawn's still-armored arm with her hand.

Pyrrha quickly pulled it away, "I'm sorry!" She cried out although she was drowned out by the storm. Dawn seemed to register it though; she gave a small nod and then waved a spare set of goggles in Pyrrha's face, Pyrrha seized it and snapped it on in a moment. With the unpleasant experience partially negated by the goggles, Pyrrha tried to make herself comfortable as they approached the not-bullhead, a single man was standing on the ramp waving them in. Ben pushed the engine one more time and then the ACORN jolted forward pass the cargo doors, instantly they were out of the storm and the sound had lessened to a dim hum outside the hull.

"Alpha-zero-one to Seafire, package is aboard! Go go go!" Hope shouted and made several wild gestures with one hand.

"Roger, we're green!" And just like that the aircraft lurched forward, and began leaving the area behind.

The group stepped out of the ACORN completely drenched, Pyrrha watched as the trio hooked the vehicle down onto the aircraft's deck and secured it tightly before Dawn and Ben slumped against one side of the aircraft against each other, meanwhile Hope dug out a water canteen from the back of his belt and took a long drink.

"So…what is this?" Pyrrha rapped her knuckles against the side of the craft.

" _This_ Ms. Nikos is a hammerhead heavy VTOL, it was developed a few years ago due to complaints about a lack of lift capacity on the bullhead when long-range missions with heavy equipment like the ACORN became the norm rather than the exception." Hope explained as he sat down opposite Dawn and Ben.

"That's interesting…" Something suddenly occurred to Pyrrha, "Hope can I ask you something?"

"You just did." Hope stated with a smirk, before Pyrrha could respond though he was talking again, "don't worry I get what you mean, what's up?"

"How long ago was the battle of beacon?" She asked with worry, _how long have I been gone?_ She wondered internally.

"Oooooh that's a tough one," Hope scratched his head, "it was _way_ before I was born though, my best guess…err…thirty years give or take?"

"Twenty-seven." Dawn's voice broke out from where she and Ben were leaning against each other.

"Yeah twenty-seven thereabouts." Hope nodded

 _I've been gone for twenty-seven years? I wonder everyone is doing?_ Pyrrha swallowed hard but shook those thoughts out of her head, she would deal with it when she came to it.

"And how old are you?" Pyrrha queried, "I mean…if you don't mind me asking…" She gave a weak smile.

"Oh me and Dawn are eighteen this year, Ben is nineteen." Hope smirked on seeing Pyrrha's incredulous face, "what…? Too young for you?"

"No it's just, no offense but you look a lot older." Pyrrha returned the smirk.

"Yeah well, having to fight for your life and limb since you were a kid can do that to you." Hope's expression changed momentarily, his smile fading and being replaced with a dark frown, in a moment it changed again and he was smirking again.

"S-since you were a kid?" Pyrrha stammered, she had no idea what that must have been like, then again she still had no idea about what kind of world Remnant had turned into in the past twenty-seven years.

"Yeah, I, Dawn and Ben, the three of us have been together since forever, there's no one else I'd rather have watching my back." Hope nodded, Pyrrha smiled, he was a lot like his father, except unlike the dorky and cheesy Jaune she knew, Hope seemed to brim with confidence and was almost a little cocky in his mannerisms.

 _Wait a minute, his father?_ Pyrrha realized something.

"I've wanted to ask you Hope, your father is…Jaune Arc correct?" Pyrrha gently prodded.

"That's him alright, and from the sounds of it, you knew my mother too right? Her name's Ruby, used to go by the last name Rose." Hope smiled.

"Yeah, they were both good friends of mine." Pyrrha smiled, remembering some of her best memories ever made, _it's good to know that Jaune moved on eventually, and I can't think of a better person than Ruby, I'd hate to see him wallow in regret and self-hate because I left._ Her train of thought was broken when Hope spoke again.

"Say, if you knew mum and dad, then that means you probably know aunt Weiss right?" Hope raised an eyebrow and looked directly at her, Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"Weiss? As in Weiss Schnee? Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?"

"Not too sure about the Schnee Dust Company part, but I do know that _Admiral_ Schnee is the overall commanding officer of the floating fortress _Titan_ and her escorts, our home and base of operations." Hope shrugged and paused, "also where we're headed to now, since I didn't make that clear initially.

"I…see." Pyrrha's eyes widened, _twenty-seven years, which means Weiss is forty-four now! Wow she has really made her own way._ Pyrrha thought happily, she wanted to ask more about all of the rest of her former friends and companions, _especially_ Jaune, boy would he be shocked to see her again, and Ruby too, she wondered how their relationship took off. But she held off for now, Hope was probably exhausted from the mission and wanted to rest.

"Thank you for your time Hope." Pyrrha smiled, "sorry if I seem like a bother to you."

"My pleasure, and don't worry about it, I could never say no to such a beauty." Hope made a flirty wink; Pyrrha felt her face heat up a little and looked away.

 _He acts a lot like Yang strangely enough._ She thought to herself.

"Instead of standing around looking silly, why don't you grab a seat and catch some shut-eye, I'll wake you when we get there." Hope patted the seat next to him.

"Ah of course, thank you." Pyrrha sat down next to him, to her surprise though, Hope folded his arms and turned away from her leaning his side against the side of the aircraft.

"Not a problem." He murmured, perplexed by his action, Pyrrha hesitatingly turned away and curled up on the seat, feeling surprisingly exhausted despite not having done much the whole way, sleep overtook her rapidly.

She was awoken by a gentle shaking.

"We're here." Jaune…no… _Hope_ stated.

"Oh thank you." Pyrrha nodded and got up; Hope walked up to Ben and Dawn and clapped his hands loudly.

"Wake up you two, we're home!" Ben was awake in an instant and cheered.

"Woohoo that felt great!" He cheered as he jumped up and stretched his back…

Leaving Dawn to fall on her side.

Dawn hissed and growled but struggled up, her eyes blinking rapidly as she sat up straight and let out a loud and exaggerated yawn. A voice suddenly came over the system.

"Seafire touching down in 3…2…1…touchdown." A shudder went through the ship as the aircraft landed softly. Hope walked over to the cargo doors and hit a button, opening the doors of the aircraft.

"Welcome to the floating fortress designation: _Titan_ , an entire mobile military base on water." Hope grinned.

"Home sweet home!" Ben grinned.

"I need a bath, I reek." Dawn deadpanned as she sniffed herself and drew back with a disgusted face.

"Hey Pyrrha could you give us a hand with this?" Hope patted the ACORN as Dawn and Ben began releasing the chains holding it in place.

"Of course," Pyrrha grinned, _I don't think I need to hide it anyhow_ , she thought as she lifted her hand, feeling her aura pulse through and putting her semblance to work. To the complete surprise of the trio, the ACORN slid down the ramp of the hammerhead easily and was out of the craft within the minute.

"Whoa that was…" Dawn looked at Pyrrha.

"Your semblance yes?" Hope gave a knowing look, "let me guess, telekinesis?"

Pyrrha smiled, "close, it's polarity, I can control metal."

" _Whoa_ , that's going to be _really_ handy around here." Ben noted.

"Alright enough talk troopers, we just need to get this back to maintenance." Hope nodded.

"Sir yes sir." Dawn rolled her eyes and the group exited the aircraft, Pyrrha eyes went wide when she stepped off the ramp.

She was in a military base of some sort; soldiers busied themselves moving from place to place, heavy equipment and weaponry was being shifted all over the place. Large robots not dissimilar to the Atlas mechs that she remembered shuffled about, overhead other aircraft streaked by across the slowly darkening sky, engines roaring and spitting fire.

It was breathtaking.

"Wow," was all Pyrrha could come up with.

"Yep, sure is a sight isn't it?" Hope stood beside her and folded his arms, and then he snapped his fingers.

"Say, why don't I take you to see the Admiral? I'm sure you two have a whole shit load ton of things to catch up on." Hope grinned, Pyrrha smiled back.

"That would be nice."

"Dawn, Ben…can I trust that you will deliver the ACORN back to maintenance properly?"

"Yeah sure we can bro; we'll just do all the heavy lifting while you just wander off with the pretty lady in arm." Dawn rolled her eyes and gave a thumbs up.

"Perfect, well then follow me Pyrrha." Hope gestured and began walking off, Pyrrha hesitatingly turned back to Dawn and Ben, Dawn made a shooing motion as Ben got into the driver's seat and she into the passenger seat, with a nod Pyrrha turned back and followed Hope as the duo drove off.

Off they went, zigzagging through large hangars, crossing long roads, up and down ladders, long hallways and narrow corridors, passing through doors large and small. All while the inhabitants of _Titan_ scurried about shifting munitions and paperwork and supplies all about them, a few giving terse greetings to Hope and more than a few ogling Pyrrha as they went by. Eventually they came to a stop outside a large metal door; Hope opened it and gestured for Pyrrha to follow.

"Hey Azure, is the Admiral in?" Hope asked a young woman seated at a desk doing paperwork.

"Yeah she is." Came the response.

"Is she busy? I kinda need to see her."

"Not particularly, go right on in," So saying she pressed a button on a phone on her desk and spoke into it, "Ma'am, Specialist Hope is here to see you."

"Send him in." A dry voice sounded over it, Azure nodded as Hope went to the door behind her and knocked on it before opening and entering.

Admiral Schnee's office was rather barebones; there was a window behind that opened out to look out over a large part of the floating fortress, other than that the walls were bare except for a vent in the ceiling.

 _So this is Weiss?_ Pyrrha peered over Hope's shoulder and wondered at the figure in a military uniform bent over a wooden desk, studying and signing some papers.

"Admiral, Specialist Hope Arc is reporting for duty." Hope stood at attention and made a mock salute while grinning widely.

"Good to see you Hope, how was your mission?" _Admiral Schnee_ did not even bother looking up from her desk.

"It went alright, and I found something really interesting, I think you might like it." Hope continued grinning.

"If this is another one of your surprises Specialist, I will chuck you into the ocean from here." The admiral deadpanned and _still_ did not look up from her desk.

"It _is_ a surprise Admiral, but I swear you're going to like it." Hope clasped his hands together.

"Oh fine then, hurry up and tell me who your new girlfriend is." The admiral reached across her desk to take another sheet of paper and began looking it over and marking things out with a pencil.

"Ahem," Hope cleared his throat rather exaggeratedly, " _Presenting_!" He did a mock drum roll and stepped to the side with his hands outstretched, "Pyrrha Nikos!"

The pencil snapped with a loud cracking noise.

The room dropped several degrees in temperature.

"It's been a long time since I've heard that name…" The admiral hissed as she slowly stood up and looked straight at the two, Hope was doing his best –and failing- to not shiver as Admiral Weiss Schnee, _former_ heiress to the now defunct Schnee Dust Company and overall commanding officer of _Battlefleet Titan_ glared at him, and allowed Pyrrha to get a good look at one of her former comrades from Beacon.

Pyrrha gasped, _Admiral Schnee_ looked nothing like the Weiss she remembered.

Where once there was a face full of pride and perhaps a hint of haughtiness, they had been replaced by a sense of deadness and tiredness. Wrinkles had already crept into most of her once healthy and almost porcelain perfect face. Hair that had once been long and tied into a long, off-center ponytail had been cut short and tied into a rather stiff looking bun, and it looked much grayer then before. Eyes that once shone with determination and strength had been replaced with dull and lethargic orbs with dark eye bags sagging below them…well at least one of them had, the other was hidden behind a black eyepatch with a red outline.

When Weiss directed her gaze at Pyrrha, the expression changed. Pain and sorrow crept its way onto her face as she moved past her desk and in front of the both of them, it was at this point that Pyrrha noticed Weiss had grown considerably taller, where once Pyrrha towered over her; she now stood eye level with the former heiress.

"I'll err…just leave you two to it, ma'am." Hope said awkwardly and slipped out the door quietly.

Silence reigned.

"So…long time no see Weiss." Pyrrha tried weakly, to her surprise Weiss lifted one arm to look at a wristwatch.

"About twenty-seven years Pyrrha," Weiss dryly remarked, "welcome back…for what it's worth anyway."

A long silence passed between the two as Pyrrha tried to think of things to say.

"So…how's everyone Weiss?" Pyrrha asked timidly.

"Oh…well…I'm sure they're fine, certainly they're doing better than _I am_." Weiss looked away and out the window into the distance aimlessly.

"Ah I see…so…I wanted to ask, how has Jaune been? And Ruby? I know they must have been really torn up about my death but I'm back aren't I? And Nora and Ren, I wonder if they're finally _together-together_ you know? And-" Pyrrha rattled off attempting to lighten the conversation, but was interrupted when Weiss spoke again.

"Pyrrha." Weiss gave a foreboding look and cast her eyes downward; Pyrrha stopped everything in that moment and shuddered a little.

"W-weiss?" Pyrrha swallowed hard, realizing she was not going to like what Weiss was going to say next.

Weiss finally shifted her eyes back to Pyrrha, her voice catching in her throat, "They're all gone Pyrrha, I'm the only one left."

* * *

 **Originally, they were going to be named Argent Arc (M) and Chalice Arc (F), but although that might have been keeping in theme with the color naming rule, I felt it didn't have any real meaning in the long run, so I changed it to Hope and Dawn.**

 **Ben was just because I wanted something that rhymed with Ren, his weapon's name is thunder-strike, he can load it with a dust crystal that unleashes its effect when he lands a blow, he mostly uses lightning dust though as a homage to his mother.**

 **The ACORN vehicle is something similar to the SOC-T from Black Ops 2, you can google it easily.**

 **I imagine the Titan to be somewhat similar to the floating fortresses from Red Alert 3, although I imagine them to be a lot bigger, they're basically a moving military base on water capable of both offense and defense.**

 **Dawn's spear is basically the rifle-spear from Bloodborne, I'll think of a name later.**

 **Hope's set up is similar to Vincent Valentine's guns in FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus.**

 **Based on the astoundingly hilarious notion that all of the BS in Remnant is a result of a shipping war between Ozpin and Salem...**

 **I give you...**

* * *

 **Shipping wars**

"You won't win witch, arkos is my most developed and prize ship ever!" Ozpin growled out.

"Then I'll just have to torpedo it, and at the same time, get a certain Reaper to...hm... _comfort_ a certain despairing knight, and then of course..." Salem trailed off with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Then I shall give the Spring maiden to one who would bring her back!"

"It's far too late for that."

"It's never too late to re-float a ship."

"Oh but I've already won, here I have a little thing..." Salem fished a scroll out from under her robes.

"Ruby and Jaune's wedding." Salem mustered the single smuggest smirk the universe had ever seen.

Ozpin's eyes went wide.

"No...you couldn't possible have..."

"Oh I do, in fact one of Cinder's own pawns is at the wedding right now..." Salem narrowed her eyes, "...with a _live_ broadcast." So saying she pressed a few buttons on her scroll and a window opened up, showing among other things, Ruby in a white bridal gown and Jaune in a white and yellow bridegroom outfit with tailcoats.

Among other things in this case being, Weiss presiding over the ceremony with a very bored and rather annoyed expression on her face. Ren as the best man, Nora, Yang and Blake as the bridesmaids. And various side characters as the audience including but not limited to Teams CFVY, CRDL, SSSN, BRNZ, NDGO, ABRN, the three professors of Beacon and all of Jaune's unnamed relatives and Ruby's named relatives.

"Ruby Rose, do you take this dolt to be your husband, to promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To love and honor him all the days of your life?"

"I do." Ruby said while blushing madly, Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Jaune Arc, do you take this dunce to be your wife, to promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To love and honor her all the days of your life?"

"I do." Jaune Arc smirked at his blushing bride.

" _Fantastic_ ," Weiss dryly remarked, "now you may stop wasting my time and kiss the bride." And so saying Ruby more or less leapt into Jaune's arms and slammed her lips onto his, Weiss facepalmed and sighed while everyone else clapped and cheered.

Salem toppled over backwards as a burst of blood erupted from her nose while Ozpin screamed a brown note that echoed out over the dimension.

* * *

 **In the ending of Volume 4, we will see the first tentative steps towards a relationship, a look here, some blushing there, sitting together just the two of them talking with each other, bantering about the setting sun or something.**

 **Then a long way down the road, like Volume 8 or some shit, after X no. of volumes worth of classic "will they won't they" X-Files style Unresolved sexual tension, they finally while under great duress admit their feelings for each other and kiss.**

 **Assuming its not a totally bleak ending where everyone dies, RWBY ends with Jaune and Ruby looking back over their lives as they finally settle down to raise a family.**


	2. Reminiscence

**WARNING!**

 **This chapter contains excessive grimdark bordering on grimderp, probably many inconsistencies,** _ **way**_ **too many character deaths, Weiss ranting, Pyrrha being a crybaby, less-than-stable!Weiss…**

 **Among other things.**

 **So if you don't like any of those things, you are advised to hit the button on the top left corner of your screen that is an arrow pointing to the left.**

 **Basically the backstory of the entire fic explained in one chapter, also, the first chapter was updated with a new omake and some more author notes, do check them out.**

* * *

Pyrrha's voice caught in her throat as her mind attempted to process what she had just heard.

"W-what do you mean g-gone?" She gasped out as she raised her hands to her mouth.

Weiss merely stared at her, "gone as in dead-gone Pyrrha, although…" Pyrrha's eyes widened, was there some good news after all?

"I suppose it was pretentious of me to say 'they're all gone' and 'I'm the only one left', your former teammate Nora Valkyrie is still kicking around…"

"Oh! Where is she?" Pyrrha interrupted.

"…In an insane asylum," Weiss ignored the interruption and continued, "she was never quite right after Ren…ah…blew himself up." Weiss gave a thoughtful expression for a moment before focusing back on Pyrrha.

"…He what…?" Pyrrha stared at Weiss with an incredulous expression.

"Overclocked his aura or something I heard, it was apparently quite spectacular from the survivor's reports, the resulting explosion…well…he took Yang with him…and the island of Patch…and signal academy…and a couple dozen of Cinder's lackeys…and another Grimm dragon…and maybe a few other things I'm not aware of." Weiss slowly counted off and shrugged.

"And you…you can just stand there…and" Pyrrha struggled to get the words out, "and…joke about it…" She hung her head and stared at the floor, completely unsure of what to feel.

"Ironic isn't it?" Weiss made a hollow chuckle devoid of any feeling, "And to think I used to be such a stuck-up bitch…" Weiss looked almost wistful as she turned and stared out the window.

Pyrrha's eyes widened at the curse-word, Weiss noticed this and smirked, "Yeah you don't enter the military without picking up how to swear and curse, suffice to say I still consider myself controlled, you should hear some of the men speak, you'd go as red as your hair in the second." Weiss continued without ever dropping her smirk.

With that said, silence reigned as Pyrrha thought about everything that Weiss had just told her, she swallowed hard and blinked back her tears, if that had just been Nora, Ren and Yang, what had happened to everyone else?

As Pyrrha tried to keep a straight face in front of Weiss, the admiral sighed, pulled open a cabinet and to Pyrrha's surprise, took out a revolver in its holster and clipped it on her belt followed by a long sabre in its sheathe which she clipped on the opposite side.

"Come," Weiss said as she walked past Pyrrha, "I'll show you around while we talk, there is a lot for you to catch up on, and I mean _a lot_." Weiss gestured as she opened the door and moved out, Pyrrha right behind her.

"Azure, please hold all of calls for the rest of the day, I need to attend to this business urgently." Weiss ordered.

"Of course ma'am." Azure nodded.

"Follow me." Weiss spared a glance at Pyrrha behind her and moved on.

"So…" Pyrrha started gingerly, "the others…how did they…?" She trailed off uncertainly, unsure of how to ask.

"Well if you're thinking that they all perished together in one great big battle…" Weiss paused for a moment, "you'd be quite wrong, for all of them I suppose you could say…fate just…caught up to them, or their luck ran out."

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is we… _they_ …all died off one by one, slowly as time and the war wore on and on. In the end it seemed that, although you may only have a 1% chance of dying on any given mission, doing twenty or thirty such missions just increases that chance to 20% and 30% doesn't it? Law of probability and such." Weiss explained and gave a great sigh; Pyrrha remained silent as they walked along a road.

"How…how did the others die?" Pyrrha asked as they walked together slowly.

"Not very peacefully is the answer." Weiss deadpanned.

"I suppose I'd better start at the beginning, after you ah… _disappeared_ , I was taken back to Atlas by my father for my own safety, Blake went on the run by herself, and Yang went to pieces in her home, Ruby formed Team RNJR and went with your team to Haven to look for Cinder. You following?" Pyrrha nodded.

"Great, so they spent some time in the wilderness, Jaune finally unlocked his semblance –empowerment by the way, turns out that aura reserve is partially for other people's use- when they got to Haven they didn't really find anything, Cinder attacked there again, though it was a spoiling attack more than anything else." Weiss's head drooped a little.

"But Cinder gloated a little too much; it ended up revealing that she had her own master, some weird eldritch asshole who called herself Salem and could control Grimm and wanted us all deader than dead. Well that was a pretty big revelation for everyone, so the focus switched to whoever this other bitch was. Meanwhile, Blake was hunting down the White Fang while Yang finally got off her ass, apparently her mother was quite the hardass on Yang and so she came to Atlas trying to get a new arm…while the White Fang was on the move trying to kill me and my family. You still following?" Another nod.

"Well so things came to a head in Atlas right at the Schnee Dust Company headquarters, Yang trying to get a new arm, me at some stupid office job, Blake hunting Adam. It was the perfect time to reunite as the White Fang attacked the HQ. Adam himself led the attack, blowing up the SDC HQ, killing my father and my sister as she held him off so I could run and live. Things happened, I reunited with those two, and we and the Atlesian military chased Adam and cornered him as he tried to escape, it was in the ensuing battle that…" Weiss stopped and rubbed her pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Even with the three of us, it wasn't enough, I went down and Blake took a fatal hit protecting me, we weakened him though, and so General Ironwood intervened to put down that bull for good." Weiss tapped her head, "A single shot through the head, and Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang was no more, Blake bled out in Yang's arms…"

* * *

 _ **Flashback**_

"Yang…Weiss…" Blake gave a pained look, "is-is he…?"

"Yep, he's dead alright, looks like the bull finally had to pay up for all that china he broke." Yang pulled the dying cat into her lap and cradled her in her arms.

"Ah, I see…thank goodness…" Blake slowly closed her eyes.

"No! NO! Hold on Blake! You're going to be just fine!" Yang cried as she held her dying partners hand, blood from a gaping chest wound pooling around them.

Blake could only give a sad smile as tears fell from her eyes, "I-I-m so sorry Yang, I ran and…"

"NO! SHUT UP! You're going to be fine! Where's that goddamn medic?!"

"Help me…my bow…" Blake said, and Yang pulled the bow off her head, freeing Blake's cat ears, "I…I'm free now, no more running from _him_ …no more hiding…it feels so…light now." Tears were falling from both girl's eyes, Weiss staggered and stumbled to join them, using a shattered Myrtenaster to keep herself upright and falling to her knees before Blake.

"You idiot…" Weiss voice cracked as she knelt before them, "why did you have to do that?!" Weiss was shaking and trying to bite back her sobs.

"I…couldn't let him…take…" Blake choked and strained out, "anyone…else."

"Shh!" Yang shushed her, "Don't speak anymore, save your strength, we're getting you out of here, you don't have my permission to die, come on use one of your nine lives kitty." Yang begged.

"Last one Yang…" Blake managed to smirk somehow before eyeing Weiss, "Weiss…thank you…" Blake whispered softly as her eyes began drooping.

"F-for what?" Weiss choked as she held Blake's hand tightly.

"For showing…me…" And with that last gasp and smile, Blake closed her eyes for good.

* * *

Weiss was breathing heavily as the memories flooded back into her, the image of a bloody Blake, Yang pulling off her bow, and the last words spoken. Pyrrha remained quiet, she had not talked much with the quiet Faunus and maintained a mostly distant friendship with her by way of Ruby.

"How-how long was it before…" Pyrrha looked away, unable to bear looking at Weiss in the eye.

"It was about a year after Beacon fell." Weiss stated softly, "with the CCT down, it was a long time before either Ruby or Sun found out, they were both utterly shattered." She turned and continued walking, Pyrrha close behind as they passed hangars and large storage areas.

"As Yang and I picked up the pieces in the aftermath, Team RNJR continued chasing answers. Your death awoke something in Ruby, a strange power to defeat the Grimm, the same power that Dawn and Hope carry in them, the silver-eyed guardians who fought the Grimm in a time before dust…" Weiss trailed off and turned to look at Pyrrha, "I was absent from these events, only Nora would know what happened in those times and places, but she's out of it at the moment, so I beg your pardon if inconsistencies from third party hearsay result."

Pyrrha nodded, "it's alright Weiss."

"So they chased endlessly for answers from one corner of Remnant to the other, all the while beset by Salem, in the process unearthing all sorts of things best left buried. Well to cut short, the Grimm were an experiment by some ancient, millennia-old, hyper-advanced civilization that grew over proud and tried to see what happens when you take away all the bad emotions from a person. Whatever happened backfired and it spun out of their control, the resulting being, the first Grimm…well apparently the phrase 'Misery Loves Company' is quite literal here. You know how we always say the Grimm are attracted to negative emotions?"

"Yes, it's always been the general belief, but never proven." Pyrrha said with a thoughtful expression.

"Well turns out they are _literally_ fueled by negative emotions, you can't simply take something away and expect it to just disappear, the Grimm are _formed_ of the collective negative psyche of humanity, that's why they have no soul, and why they simply 'disappear' after we kill them, they were never a material thing to begin with, just a _concept_ and a _thought_ given form…you still with me? I know this is quite a lot since you just returned a few hours ago."

"Its fine, I need to catch up quickly, but what about the silver-eyed guardians you mentioned?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh that, well it turns out it's not that they're especially good at fighting Grimm, what texts RNJR dug up suggests that they've been around even before the Grimm, no one really remembers how they came about, they've just been humanity's protectors for as long as the ancients remember." Weiss shrugged.

"I see."

"Right, so somewhere along all that chasing Ruby and Jaune hooked up...somehow, and also found the other three maidens, none of whom were very happy to learn that the powers given to them were being abused, still with the recommendation of RNJR the other three went into hiding as RNJR returned to Mistral. It was there that I and Yang reunited with them; Cinder by this time was making a real push to wipe out Mistral, the dragon had gotten free again, it was there we all fought her down and chased her off as one…but we couldn't vanquish her, and she escaped albeit we dealt her a great blow." Weiss looked slightly smug as she recounted the events in her head, oh the joy of seeing Cinder's face as Ruby who had learned to control her powers somewhat, annihilated the dragon with Jaune's empowerment.

Then Weiss's features darkened again, "Salem wasn't very happy with that though, she broke out of her dimension and turned Vale into her personal garden, it was here that the professors, who led whatever remained of Beacon hunters were wiped out evacuating them to Atlas, and where Cardin…" Weiss's eyes lit up

"Cardin…" Pyrrha hissed, recalling the bully "is he still…?"

"Come to think of it he's still around as a trainer in Atlas; his entire team is dead though, so much was lost in the chaotic evacuation of the survivors from Vale…" Weiss looked up at the sky, the last streaks of light were fading into the distance, and soon night would be upon them, the most dangerous time of an entire day, when sensory equipment was powered up to its maximum to see into the inky blackness.

"And then the war was really on, for six years we fought and for six years we died, the maidens came out of hiding to lend us their aid and with their help, we held Salem at bay. And yet the dead just piled up endlessly, Team CFVY was overrun and wiped out holding an evacuation zone, Sun lost himself to grief and essentially committed suicide against a horde of Grimm, Team SSSN vanished and no one has seem them since. Of Team BRNZ only the sniper May survived when they were ambushed, ABRN lost Reese when she sacrificed herself as a distraction…" Weiss took a breath.

"And that's all that I can remember, there are whole bunches more dead and maimed and walking wounded around…I…" Weiss grit her teeth and closed her eyes. Memories, endless memories of reports coming in…killed in action…wounded in action…missing in action. She put one hand to her eyepatch and forced the tears back.

"I lost my eye to a nevermore feather during an assault on one of Salem's strongholds. Cinder's lackeys didn't survive either, her assassin; Mercury Black was cut down by Jaune. Emerald, the mind manipulator who gave you and Yang the illusions…destroyed by Yang. Neapolitan…"

* * *

 **Flashback**

"What do you want you loathsome pest? Fancy seeing you here after all this time, what...did ol' Torchwick's death kill you on the inside? I guess you've been-"

"That's enough Yang." Ruby stated firmly.

"What? I said-"

"And _I_ said that's enough, she came here in peace, we will see what she wants." Ruby finished.

"So what _do_ you want?" Weiss started slowly, her hand gripping her sabre tightly; the ice-cream girl pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her while glaring at Yang. The paper had only one word written on it.

Revenge.

* * *

"For Roman Torchwick apparently, she fought with us for a few years handling infiltration and subversion. Remarkably, she actually survived the entire war, she disappeared at the end with nary a word or letter, just disappeared entirely after the final battle."

"What happened at the final battle?" Pyrrha asked, she could feel a growing sickness in her stomach.

"Long story short, Jaune snapped, six years is a long time to suffer endlessly seeing everyone die off. He, Ruby and Ruby's uncle and step-mother, Craven and Crow or whatever infiltrated and fought their way into Salem's own home and confronted her there…I wasn't there to watch it, but I did see the end of it…"

* * *

 _ **Flashback**_

"Weiss! Take Ruby and go!" Jaune handed a barely conscious Ruby in his arms to Weiss as she jumped out of the hammerhead.

"What about you?" Weiss gave the knight an incredulous look.

"I-" They were interrupted when a blast of lightning hit one of the hammerhead's engines.

"And just where do you _rats_ think you're going?" Cinder hissed as fire poured out over the area.

"Shit! That was a major hit! We can't take another one like that." The pilot sounded out.

"I'll hold her off! Just get Ruby out of here!" Jaune shouted as he turned and deflected a blast with his shield.

"No escape! You will all die here!" Cinder smirked viciously.

"No…Jaune…" Ruby feebly reached out for him, Jaune grabbed it and squeezed it.

"I love you Ruby, take care of her for me snow angel." Weiss's eyes widened.

"Ma'am we can't stay here any longer, they're all over us!" The pilot screamed, Weiss bit her lower lip and turned her back.

"Good luck Jaune, I'll see you on the other side." Weiss hissed and summoned a glyph to shield the aircraft as she stepped into it carrying a distraught Ruby.

"No! Jaune, don't leave me!" Ruby weakly struggled as tears ran down her eyes, tears were gathering in Weiss's eyes as well as she held her partner tightly, grit her teeth and shouted.

"Get us out of here!"

"Roger, taking off!" The pilot shouted back and they flew off with Ruby screaming Jaune's name as the door closed.

* * *

Pyrrha bit back a sob as Weiss placed a hand on a wall to hold herself steady, she sniffled and stood back up straight and wiped a tear that came to her cheek.

"So…in the end…they failed?" Pyrrha weakly asked.

"No, they found an imprisoned and weakened Ozpin in her black fortress, together they all fought, Ozpin sacrificed himself to give them the opening they needed, and they succeeded beyond anyone's wildest hopes…but in all the chaos of the war with that witch, we completely forgot about her original pawn."

"Cinder." Pyrrha growled out the name.

"Yes, after her defeat at Mistral, Salem cast her away and she disappeared, but she bid her time, quietly subverting us like she always had, waiting for us to defeat her master for her, and then stole her powers when she fell and took out Craven and Crow…and disappeared for some years after that. The war was over, and we began to rebuild, for eight years slowly but surely the kingdoms were restored as far as we could while the maidens went into hiding once more. Ruby gave birth at the beginning of this; Jaune had impregnated her the night before they left, who'd have thought?" Weiss gave a hollow chuckle.

"Ruby and Yang went back to Patch with Ren and Nora where they raised their families, and for a while it was good, we tried desperately to believe that the end had come and gone and that Cinder had chosen to disappear elsewhere never to bother us." Weiss ground her teeth and clenched her fist. "That was wrong, ten years ago…"

* * *

 _ **Flashback**_

"It's good that you're here Weiss, we should have gatherings like this more often." Ruby gave a weak smile as she relaxed into the couch.

"Yeah I know, my work keeps me busy though." Weiss gave a soft sigh as there were a series of rapid and sharp knocks at the door, "let me get that for you." Weiss got up as more knocks sounded.

"Alright keep your damn pants on you impatient-!" Weiss threw the door open and a young woman with icy blue hair fell into her arms.

"C-cerulean?! What're you-?!" Weiss caught her; the winter maiden was injured and bleeding out.

"Cinder…" Cerulean whispered, "She's-" The maiden was cutoff as an arrow pierced her through, she gave one last gasp and went limp. Weiss's eyes widened as she looked at a tall woman in a red dress walking towards them slowly.

"Cinder!" Weiss yelled as she drew her sabre.

"Tonight, all will either bow before me." Cinder smiled as she fitted another arrow to her bow, "or die."

* * *

"As it turns out, power hungry madwomen don't give up after the first shot." Weiss looked on solemnly, "That was the night we lost everything, through eight years she had used her powers to form a cult around her, this cult subverted us at the highest levels and before we knew it, Vale and Vacuo had fallen and Mistral was in chaos. General Ironwood, who had lived and survived through the war, dead in his sleep before we understood what was happening, we couldn't stop Cinder, we'd all grown soft in eight years of peace. It was only by Ren and Yang's sacrifice that we escaped at all." Weiss sighed.

"That was it for Ruby; she sucked it up and continued on when Blake died, held fast when Jaune and her uncle died, but seeing her father and sister go? That was all she could take, a month after it happened, she disappeared. I don't know where she went or what she did, but I know that Grimm activity dropped drastically in the weeks after she disappeared, so whatever she did must have worked."

Pyrrha looked a little green.

"And now here we are, you're probably wondering where I fit in through the story, well after Blake died, I did my best to carry on her legacy, I made her a hero, I did my best for the Faunas and rallied them in her name to our cause. After that I…ended up joining the Atlesian military as a specialist," Pyrrha looked shocked and clearly wanted to say something but was stopped by Weiss, "Before you yell at me, I accepted Ironwood's offer because I wanted to be able to give access to Atlesian resources wherever and whenever we needed it, that's how I got Ruby out at the end, that's how we survived the shattering." Weiss finished.

"I took the kids in after that, where else could they have gone? They've been born and raised into a military life, not that they or I could have helped it, the _Titan_ is basically their home now, they will fight to the death to defend it." And then Weiss started laughing and giggling.

"W-Weiss? Are you-?"

"It's so _fucking_ Ironic isn't it? I wanted to be the leader of Team RWBY so much, and now here I am, commander of an _entire fucking fleet_ to prosecute the war against Cinder _after_ everyone else has died." Weiss threw her arms out in a grandiose gesture.

Pyrrha dashed over to a nearby trash can and dry heaved into it.

"Easy there." Weiss strode over quickly and grabbed Pyrrha's hair out of the way.

"Why…?" Pyrrha barely whispered, tears were beginning to fall from her eyes.

"Why what?" Weiss raised an eyebrow as Pyrrha finally stopped heaving and stumbled away, only to lose her balance and fall on her butt.

"Why was I alone brought back? Just to see all the suffering that happened in the end?" Pyrrha wept brokenly.

"My best guess? Whatever power brought you back wanted you to actually achieve something before you died." Weiss shrugged.

"W-wha…?" Pyrrha looked confused; Weiss sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Did you notice anything at all about all of the deaths of our friends while I was talking?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. Pyrrha thought hard about that, but was not able to figure out what Weiss meant, she shook her head slowly. Weiss's expression changed, from the dull emotionless face, she now looked rather angry.

"Did you get nothing at all from that?" Weiss scoffed in a manner resembling her younger self, "typical, as usual no pays attention, but to cut it short they were able to achieve something with their death, you on the other hand…a rather doubtful prospect no?"

This time, it was Pyrrha's turn to be indignant, "What're you saying? I chose to sacrifice myself-" She started, and was promptly interrupted by Weiss.

"And in doing so…accomplished… _what_ exactly?" Weiss narrow her eyes dangerously, "you death may have spurred others on, but ultimately you proved to be nothing more than a speed bump in the overall plan. You _failed_ to prevent the collapse of the CCT, you _failed_ to defeat Cinder and regain the Fall Maiden, and you _failed_ to buy any sort of time for anyone to arrive because at that point, no help was forthcoming Pyrrha. The professors and Ironwood were all busy fighting for their own lives in Vale, what could Ruby and I have done where you failed? Try to keep fighting and lose our own lives in the process?" Weiss explained, she took Pyrrha's stunned silence as a signal to continue.

"In the end, your death accomplished nothing, Cinder and Salem got everything they wanted let alone _needed_ , the collapse of the CCT caused fear and panic to spread in the other kingdoms, Atlas was mistrusted because many believed it had declared war and fired the opening shots." Weiss paused for a moment to let it sink in before continuing, "Do you know I hated you for some time?" Pyrrha looked shocked, "we all mourned for you when you passed, but as time wore on I began to hate and envy you, you who had merrily run off to your own death would never have to bear the burden of witnessing what happened after, would never have to watch as your friends died one by one. I don't know what you were thinking when you pushed Jaune away and ran to your 'destiny', but whatever you thought, whether you were so _fucked in the head_ that you wanted to die, or whether you believed you could actually do something against the woman who had just chased off Ozpin…" Weiss took a breath.

"It all turned into nothing, you didn't see the grief that nearly drove Jaune to suicide, you didn't experience the pain RNJR went through, didn't have to watch as everything was torn away from you piece by piece. No you went to your death _first_ like a coward, too afraid to continue trying to live on and so throwing your life away in the futile pursuit of your so-called 'destiny', hopelessly trying to have faith in a victory that was already lost; you threw your life away and abandoned us all to pick up after you!" Weiss ranted and raved for some time, in the course of the rant her hand went to her sabre and she advanced on Pyrrha threateningly, who had backed up on her hands, still tearing up.

"I…I…" Pyrrha stuttered out as she choked back sobs, when she had pushed Jaune into the locker and went with all her might to face Cinder, she had believed that she could have bought time for others to arrive, prevented the CCT from falling. When she thought about the battle, she could not find a single misstep or error she had made, every piece of footwork, every swing of her blade, every throw of her shield, all precisely made without a single miscalculation or error. She had gone into battle with absolute confidence, believing that she was making a difference.

If she had known she had done basically nothing with her sacrifice, she most certainly would not have been that confident in her fight.

"Oh _fuck_ it _._ " Weiss swore loudly, "what the hell am I doing? Wasting my breath scolding some champion from long ago like some child…" She sighed, and pulled out a cigarette from her coat pocket and a lighter. Putting the cigarette to her lips she took a long drag and blew out a tall puff of smoke, Pyrrha looked absolutely stunned.

"Oh don't give me that look," Weiss scoffed, "we all have our ways of coping, Yang had alcohol for some time after Blake's death, Ruby damn near went that way too when Jaune died, Ren and Nora did recreational drugs for a while…" Weiss trailed off and stared at the now dark sky.

"Shit," She swore again, "I'll probably die here, in battle, maybe someone might mourn me, or if the entire base is destroyed maybe _no one_ will mourn me and I'll just become another name on the list of casualties." Weiss sighed and gave a dark chuckle.

"Ain't that the shit?" She raised an eyebrow at looked at Pyrrha out of the corner of her eye.

Pyrrha had no words for that as Weiss took her cigarette out of her mouth and walked up to her and offered her hand as the champion was still on the ground, the back of her hand covering her mouth.

"Well what're you doing over there? Get up and stop feeling sorry for yourself." Pyrrha took the offered hand gingerly, and was surprised when Weiss nearly threw her to her feet with a hard pull.

"…So what happens now?" Pyrrha asked as she wiped her tears away.

"Well what I'm going to do is put you and those three on a transport bound for Atlas tomorrow, then-"

"I can fight Weiss." Pyrrha sternly remarked and folded her arms.

Weiss rolled her eyes and took another long drag, "yeah you can fight girly, Grimm and other people with _rules_ in a _tournament_ probably." Weiss spat, "Cinder doesn't just use Grimm anymore y'know, there are plenty of people who have dedicated their lives to her and her cult, men and women who will give their lives so that we can't have ours, so I'm being nice, you don't want to kill people? Fine, so I'll just put in a word for you as a desk jockey or clerk or some such shit."

There was silence and Pyrrha hung her head.

Weiss stared at her for a moment before continuing, "Yeah it's a wonderful world we live in isn't it? But what're you going to do about it? Complain? To who? The Beacon staff?" Weiss sarcastically noted, "Let me just be clear about this, I will not, repeat, will not allow you to fight alongside me, not unless you can make me believe that you can follow my orders."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to protest but Weiss shut her up as she continued, "and when I say 'follow my orders', I don't mean like follow whatever battle strategy I have in mind like Jaune. I mean that when I tell you to do something, you. Will. Do it. So when I tell you to _shoot someone_ because we don't have time to deal with prisoners, when I tell you to leave a comrade behind because he is slowing you down, when I tell you to more or less _condemn_ a person to death, you will do so unquestioningly and without hesitation." Weiss stared Pyrrha down.

"I-"

"I know you're no murderer, so I'm giving you this chance to walk away, do something else with your second chance, there are plenty of other ways to help the war effort, farming, training, manufacturing, medical support, hell if you want to I can pop you back in Mistral as a police officer or something, you can keep the peace all you want…" Weiss hung her own head as she took the cigarette out of her mouth, "I won't let you serve on the frontline, I will block every attempt you make, not until you prove you can take another life, I'm not saying you have to feel good about it like a psychopath, god knows how many people I've sliced open or shot through the head, but I need you to be able to do it first and foremost."

Pyrrha was stuck, she had no idea what to do, she dearly wanted to help out on the frontline, prove that she could make something out of her second chance, but if it meant taking another life? Well…

She really did not know if she could do it.

"If…if there is anything I can do to…to prove it to you…"

"Prove it to me…hm…ok just gimme a moment." Weiss turned her back to Pyrrha, took out her revolver and fiddled with it a little and then turned and handed it back to Pyrrha.

"Imagine there's a real live bullet in the cylinder, now point and shoot me." Weiss grinned.

"W-what?" Pyrrha stammered and looked at Weiss; clearly the admiral had gone insane.

" _What_ what? You want to prove to me you can kill? So shoot me, don't worry it's unloaded and I still have my aura, as you can very well see yourself." Well Weiss was apparently right on that at least, so Pyrrha raised the gun hesitatingly, and squeezed the trigger.

It went off with an ear-splitting BANG.

Pyrrha stumbled back in shock, looking first at the revolver and then at Weiss.

Who was laughing hysterically?

"Oh crap, you should've seen the look on your face!" And she burst out into another round of laughter. Pyrrha could only stare in shock.

"Just a blank, a game I like to play sometimes with my subordinates when I get really bored." Weiss smirked as she took back the revolver and reloaded it before holstering it, "so what we can conclude from that little exercise is…" Weiss stopped and looked into the distance, a dark mass could just be made out coming over the horizon

"We're under attack." Weiss stated with a grim look as a siren began wailing.

" _All hands to battlestations, I repeat, all hands to battlestations! This is not a drill!"_ An announcement came over a loudspeaker as soldiers dropped whatever they were doing at the moment and began rushing back and forth.

"Aw shit, and I was about to finish this one too." Weiss sighed and plucked the cigarette from her mouth and flicked it away. Pyrrha stared at her, still unsure if this was the same Weiss that she had once known from Beacon academy even if that had been nearly three decades ago.

The dark mass was getting closer and closer, all sorts of announcements and warnings blared out over the floating fortress.

"Well that certainly is new, that bitch is trying to make a push for it isn't she?" Weiss glared right at it as the cawing of nevermores sounded out and a few flew overhead as triple-A and SAM turrets came online.

"Just like old times?" Pyrrha's eyes widened and she smiled a little.

Weiss laughed, "Well _hardly_ I guess, I have a few new tricks up my sleeve, for example…" Weiss whipped her revolver out of its holster, and with six rapid shots knocked six griffons straight out of the sky as they attempted to land on the deck. She snapped the cylinder open, held the revolver vertical to let the empty casings slide out, and then swiftly rammed in moon-clip and snapped the cylinder back in place.

"Welcome to the new Remnant Pyrrha, Year 0010 P.S., that stands for post-shattering by the way." Weiss gave a devilish smile that sent a chill up Pyrrha's spine.

* * *

 **I know there are probably a whole bunch of things that don't entirely make sense in the backstory, I'd love to handwave it by saying that's what happens when an unstable soldier tries to explain 27 years of bullshit to a friend who just came back from the dead.**

 **But I'd rather not make that excuse, so yeah the backstory is probably kinda crappy.**

 **I suppose it does not need pointing out, but I tried to portray Weiss as not being of an especially stable and sane disposition in the story. Playing silly games with Pyrrha (I was inspired by that scene on the train in** _ **Wolfenstein: The New Order**_ **, I love how creepy the scene is) using her revolver, ranting at her, laughing about everyone's deaths like it's nothing to her.**

 **She has already buried basically everyone that ever mattered to her, and since Pyrrha is around, she just develops a convenient excuse to vent all of her frustration on the champion.**

 **Her views do to an extent reflect my own views about Pyrrha's sacrifice, it was heroic and awesome and incredible that she fought to the last.**

 **But ultimately pointless EXCEPT for Ruby ex Machina.**

 **I believe the phrase here is, "Only the dead have seen the end of war", Pyrrha in that case is very lucky, she only gets to see the START of everything going to hell (i.e. the start of RWBY becoming a darker series), by dying she absolves herself of having to go through that hell herself, meanwhile her friends and teammates are all going to have to carry forward and onward scattered as they are.**

 **And now for something more light-hearted after all that, Half-life 2 references inbound!**

* * *

 **Crowbar Champion**

"Take this." Weiss tossed a crowbar at Pyrrha, who caught it in her hands.

"What...?"

"Well I don't have anything else to give to you, you'll just have to use that until you find something else."

Pyrrha never did find anything else to use, from one end of Remnant to the other, the "Crowbar Champion" became wildly feared among the enemy and a source of inspiration to her side as she endlessly bashed her way through wave after wave of Grimm, cultists and whatever else Cinder could throw at her. Through Vale, Vacuo and Mistral, the Crowbar Champion carved a bloody path of bashed-in heads through the enemy.

Any obstacles (wooden crates and such) were merely bashed to pieces, any that could not be bashed into pieces (Metal barrels and such) were picked up and thrown to the side by her polarity.

Years later, after the war was over and Beacon had been rebuilt, it was Pyrrha's statue -with the crowbar- that stood in front of Beacon for all new hunters-in-training to see and be inspired by.

* * *

 **So there you go, something hopefully a little more fun than the grimdark/derp piece that I just wrote.**

 **I also now can't get the image of Pyrrha using a crowbar to smack beowolves around out of my head, so there's that.**

 **I appreciate all your reviews faves and follows!**


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